In London city where I did dwell
A butcher boy, I loved right well
He courted me, my life away
But now with me, he will not stay
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
I wish I was a maid again
A maid again I ne'er will be
'Til cherries grow on an apple tree
I wish my baby it was born
And smiling on its daddy's knee
And me poor girl to be dead and gone
With the long green gra** growing over me
She went upstairs to go to bed
And calling to her mother said
"Give me a chair 'til I sit down
And a pen and ink 'til I write down"
At every word she dropped a tear
And at every line cried "Willie dear
Oh, what a foolish girl was I
To be led astray by a butcher boy"
He went upstairs and the door he broke
He found her hanging from a rope
He took his knife and he cut her down
And in her pocket, these words he found
Oh, make my grave large, wide and deep
Put a marble stone at my head and feet
And in the middle, a turtle dove
That the world may know, that I died for love